New Eagle garden groundbreaking next week

With healthy eating and community service in mind, New Eagle Elementary School in Wayne will break ground on a new garden project March 13.

The idea came from members of New Eagle’s beautification and healthy lifestyles PTO committees, some with longstanding ties to the school.

“We have some parents that actually attended New Eagle, who said there had been a garden here when they were children and attending school,” New Eagle Principal Karen Whyte said. “It just gained momentum, and we had a group of parents present it at our school board meeting, and it was approved.”

The project is in partnership with the Chester County Food Bank. While 30 percent of the produce yield will supply food for the school, the other 70 percent will go to the food bank, which is covering start-up and seed costs.

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“The Chester County Food Bank has worked with quite a few schools in the county to bring the idea of fresh foods, and it’s also a way for students to see how they can give back,” Whyte said. “It’s a way to promote healthy living and to promote social responsibility and helping others.”

Next Wednesday, the parents and faculty which make up the new garden committee will join with students in building five garden beds, one for each grade level. Students will help move dirt, plant seedlings and build scarecrows. March 17 will be used to build and place fencing, to keep the local deer population out of the beds. The public is welcome both days, and donations of gardening equipment are welcome.

Students, staff and volunteers will plant peas, spinach, lettuces, carrots, beets, kale and chard for the spring. The summer plant will include carrots, beets, summer lettuce and beans. Anyone with connections to the school or Tredyffrin/Easttown district are invited to help water, weed and harvest crops over the summer and warm weekends during the school year.

The gardens will augment nutritional education and offerings already ongoing at New Eagle.

“It’s about eating healthy, eating green and having fresh fruits and vegetables, and really, what better way to get excited about that than to eat something that you’ve worked hard on and watched grow?” Whyte said. “We have a lot of children who eat from our salad bar every day, and it’s just another way to draw them into the effort.”

One hope is that the gardens will be the first of many within the school district.